# Reduce WASTE of EXPENSIVE pipe tobacco



## deanking (May 23, 2010)

*Every smoker (especially pipe smokers) know that the outrageous "sin-tax" extortion of all the anti-tobacco fanatics has resulted in totally unjustified (financial) punishment all tobacco consumers.. not just cigarette smokers.*

*As for me .. I don't smoke cigarettes or cigars .. nor use any "smokeless" tobacco products .. but I'm still victimized by all the "sin-tax" equine excrement anyway. *

*Sooo .. I have significantly reduced the WASTE of my pipe tobacco consumption .. and the subsequent waste of my limited money as well.*

*Here is HOW all pipe smokers can reduce their tobacco WASTE and COST. *** **Sorry this "gimmick" will not help cigar and cigarette smokers at all *** *

*FIRST... check the internal diameter (inside the "cake") of your favorite pipe bowls. *

*NEXT ... go to your friendly neighborhood hardware store that handles small packages of steel washers. Buy a supply of washers with outer diameters that will fit **loosely** inside the "cake" of your favorite pipe bowls.*

*NOTE .. The washer (one or more) will serve as a substitute for the tobacco "plug" in the bottom of the bowl .. which normally serves as a "filter" and "spit-trap" and tends to get too moist to burn anyway. Actually ***WASTING *** EXPENSIVE *** TOBACCO ***.*

*ALSO NOTE .. Since the (one or more ) washers fit loosely in the bowl and are heavier than a normal tobacco "plug" .. the burned out tobacco residue is easy to "bump" with very light "tapping".*

*Then just use pieces of tissue or paper towel to wipe of the washers ( for next "re-load" ) and swab the moisture from bowl .. since steel washers won't soak up moisture like a tobacco-plug.*

*Overcoming all the anti-tobacco "sin-tax" insanity might be politically possible sometime in the future .. but for right now ..*
*pipe smokers can save some money with few steel washers.*

*Happy Puffing ... [DK-TX]*


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## drastic_quench (Sep 12, 2008)

Eh, pass. The most expensive tobacco I own costs perhaps 35 cents a bowl. That makes the dottle worth perhaps four cents, but that's irrelevant as I smoke to the bottom of the bowl anyhow, but that's owing to me breaking in a good pipe properly rather than rigging it up with metal like a makeshift ganja pipe. The dottle is never as distasteful as bitching about the taxes on four cents worth of tobacco.


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## chu2 (Jun 8, 2009)

Or you drill a carb hole. 

Or you buy a well-made pipe that smokes to the bottom.

:crazy:


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## Latakius Vituscan (May 20, 2010)

drastic_quench said:


> Eh, pass. The most expensive tobacco I own costs perhaps 35 cents a bowl. That makes the dottle worth perhaps four cents, but that's irrelevant as I smoke to the bottom of the bowl anyhow. The dottle is never as distasteful as bitching about the taxes on four cents worth of tobacco.


Hey DQ,

Good read on the issue.

My CPA wanted to do a cost analysis on my smoking endeavors. I told him to go find a Certified Pubic Cucumber.

An old friend of mine, former CEO of Cummins-Schwitzer, now in that Great Humidor in the Sky, once told me when I was bitching about paying income tax..."The more tax you pay, the more money you are making. He shut my whanking up big time.

I get so much pleasure out of my smoke that it should be completely illegal anyway!

Now, if they cut off the supply, LOCK AND LOAD!

But, for now, life is good!

BTW, that old boy saw the Cuba embargo coming back in the sixties, bought a BA freezer, made a trip to FidelLand, bought a shitload (technical term) of BigOnes and shared them with his friends over the years. He had some very effective reconstitution procedure that worked very well.

Happy Trails, Carl and thanks for the mentorship!

DJ


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## MarkC (Jul 4, 2009)

Welcome to the board, Rube Goldberg!


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## jolyrogger (Jan 7, 2010)

just go to your nearest head shop and pick up some pipe screens instead of using a washer.


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## Hermit (Aug 5, 2008)

I'm pretty damn cheap (at least that's what my wife says.)
But I ain't *that *cheap. 
Besides, I usually smoke a bowl down to nothing. 
If ya really wanna save money, buy all you can *right now*.


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## deanking (May 23, 2010)

drastic_quench said:


> Eh, pass. The most expensive tobacco I own costs perhaps 35 cents a bowl. That makes the dottle worth perhaps four cents, but that's irrelevant as I smoke to the bottom of the bowl anyhow, but that's owing to me breaking in a good pipe properly rather than rigging it up with metal like a makeshift ganja pipe. The dottle is never as distasteful as bitching about the taxes on four cents worth of tobacco.


*If you can afford 35 cents a bowl .. fine .. I can't afford it.*

*And with the "El Cheapo" tobaccos I can afford.. smoking to the bottom of the bowl tastes like licking a really grungy ashtray.*

*And besides .. my "Rube Goldberg" inclinations ( in smoking and other interests ) **suit me just fine thank you !!! ipe:*


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## Mante (Dec 25, 2009)

deanking said:


> *If you can afford 35 cents a bowl .. fine .. I can't afford it.*
> 
> *And with the "El Cheapo" tobaccos I can afford.. smoking to the bottom of the bowl tastes like licking a really grungy ashtray.*
> 
> *And besides .. my "Rube Goldberg" inclinations ( in smoking and other interests ) **suit me just fine thank you !!! ipe:*


I dont smoke a pipe. I'll get that out there in the beginning.


> If you can afford 35 cents a bowl .. fine .. I can't afford it


 Ummmmmm, give up smoking dude, you cant afford the lighter fluid nor a match! When I enjoy something as a pastime I try to equate it to what I earn an hour. If I earn $20 an hour then what is wrong with spending $20 to enjoy a fine cigar for an hour or more? If you cant afford $0.35 once a week or even everyday to enjoy some time with yourself and your pipe then maybe you should go enjoy a BigMac or something. Hangon! That costs a shitload more than 35 cents, what am I thinking!


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## Zeabed (Apr 23, 2009)

My system is this: I've stocked up last year to 62 lbs. of pipe tobacco in my cellar, in anticipation of tax increases/prohibition down the pike (which is now practically upon us). Given my age, I expect it to last me at least the remainder of my lifetime, barring a fire or a hurricane or some other Act of God. No plug thingie.


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## Mad Hatter (Apr 8, 2007)

WTF?


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## beefytee (Apr 16, 2009)

Yeah. If you can't afford $0.35, you shouldn't be smoking. There are for more important things you should be doing with your money if $0.35 is a stretch.


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## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

Now now everyone,

The OP is just trying to share something, no need to jump down his throat and dog-pile it on.

While we may not agree with his suggestion, there isn't any malicious intent to it.


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## beefytee (Apr 16, 2009)

CWL said:


> Now now everyone,
> 
> The OP is just trying to share something, no need to jump down his throat and dog-pile it on.
> 
> While we may not agree with his suggestion, there isn't any malicious intent to it.


True True...

I just hope he's using corncobs and not destroying a nice briar or meer.

Hey...DeanKing...if you have any decent pipes I'll buy (rescue)them from you. I'll give you $1.00 a pipe....or 3 nice full bowls of any tobacco you choose.

EDIT:::I just want to be sure DeanKing knows I'm just having a bit of fun...no ill meant.


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## IHT (Dec 27, 2003)

interesting discussion(s).

nice way to attempt to help out in your 1st post.
i think most ppl here either would just use the "pipe screens" that jollyroger mentioned, or just not worry about the dottle. we've just accepted it as part of the process of smoking pipes, just like cigar smokers can't smoke every tiny bit of leaf in the cigar.


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## okieblow (May 23, 2010)

Experiment with other ways of loading, lighting, and smoking your pipe to enhance the smoke and smoke to the bottom. Also seriously invest in some higher end non drug store tobacco. The little bit more that you spend will be paid back in spades when you smoke a high quality blend over drugstore stuff.


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## Brinson (Oct 28, 2007)

The cheapest tobacco I know of, Super Value by Dreamcastle, still tastes fine at the bottom of the bowl. Its $14 for 12 oz on pipesandcigars.com.


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## Uelrindru (Mar 16, 2010)

If I was worried about that I would probably go with the pipe screen before the washer personally. Like the thinking but most people around here myself included aren't worried about a few cents possibly lost. Pipe smoking is about forgetting about everything for awhile and relaxing. That's worth more to me than if I was wasting the whole bowl. 
Besides, if you smoke one bowl a day every day for a year you waste 14.60 I'm ok with that.


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## deanking (May 23, 2010)

CWL said:


> Now now everyone,
> 
> The OP is just trying to share something, no need to jump down his throat and dog-pile it on.
> 
> While we may not agree with his suggestion, there isn't any malicious intent to it.


*WCL ...*

*Thanks for the defense.. but it's really not necessary. I'm accustomed to criticism.. in a lot of my interests.*

*One of the replies in this thread.. called me Rube Goldberg.. but that's OK. I'm not the least bit ashamed of the fact that I'm a Rube Goldberg sort of maverick *tinkerer*. Some times my efforts seem to be sort of appreciated.*

*But most of the replies here indicate (to me) that I probably should have taken the time in my OP to try to explain *WHY* I joined this forum in the first place.. and then initiated this thread.*

*Sooo .. I'll try to do that ... NOW ...*

*Maybe I should have titled this thread ...*

*"QUICKIE PIPE SMOKER PROTEST" ... :frusty: *

*I've been a pipe smoker for over 50 years. For about 25 of those years . I was a fairly traditional "proper" part-time leisure-time pipe smoker .. and a full-time busy-time CIGARETTE smoker.*

*My first pipe was a gift from a certain fair damsel of my acquaintance.. a coffeshop waitress who kept me well supplied with free coffee refills .. while I scribbled (on napkins) original little (flirty) verses which she always saved and called them her "personal poetry". Sooo .. **I felt "appreciated".*

*About 25 years ago I refused to pay sudden increase in price of cigarettes to over a dollar a pack (thanks to "sin-tax"). *

*I didn't stop smoking. I just stopped buying cigarettes.*

*That's when I became a **FULL-TIME PIPE SMOKER**.*

*That's also the time when the anti-smoking FANATICS started their epidemic of **NO SMOKING** insanity.. infecting the good old USA (coast-to coast and border-to border ) EVERYWHERE..
coffee shops, restaurants, shopping ceters, all public buildings,
public transportation.. planes, trains, buses, taxicabs,
outdoor facilities.. open-air sports stadiums, and public parks... etc... etc ... etc ...*

*Maybe I should state that I am no longer a traditional "proper" pipe smoker. 20 years ago my employer had VERY GOOD dental coverage and I had VERY BAD teeth -- resulting from BAD oral hygiene and BAD night-street diplomacy.. (back when I was young and foolish). Suffice it to say .. I have had NO TEETH for the last 20 years. *

*I smoke light-weight pipes with small-bowls rather than large bowl pipes. **And that is just as well.. because a long burning pipe (30-45 mins) is not very practical for 10 minute smoke-breaks.. outside in January.*

*Now that I'm totally retired (at home) I spend a lot of time at my computer.. but I have to get up and move around at least every hour.. or my arthritic knees get stiff and painful. Moving around is my "smoke-break". Small "quickie" pipes are best for me. *

*I hope the above (semi-personal) stuff has not been too tedious and boring.. for most of you.*

*Let me just add this: *
*The same sort of people who have deliberately robbed you of your "public smoking" freedoms are exactly the same sort of people who are busy thinking up new ways to rob you of the rest of your freedoms.*

*Happy Puffing ... ipe: *


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## Mante (Dec 25, 2009)

Nicely said Dean. Take no offense in what most people, including myself, say as we can only reply on the written word. Any BOTL the leaf is always welcome here. Bear in mind that what you type in an OP can only be construed how it is read if you dont give it some emotion and a straightforward tone. Cheers for posting up a thread & I'm sure we all look forward to some more from you.:clap2::clap2::clap2::beerchug:


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## Mad Hatter (Apr 8, 2007)

No really dude. We appreciate first posts that spread awareness about taxes and the decline of freedom and then tell us how to save pennies on the dollar.

But the washer idea isn't a bad one, less troublesome than a screen that hinders cleaning, gets plugged, etc, etc, and as we all know, a low heal can ruin more than just the tobacco sitting below the draft.


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## chu2 (Jun 8, 2009)

deanking said:


> *WCL ...*
> 
> *Thanks for the defense.. but it's really not necessary. I'm accustomed to criticism.. in a lot of my interests.*
> [. . .]
> ...


Well, the suggestion makes a lot more sense now. If I was taking a quick smoke break, then hell yes I'd want every last bit in there. To each his own, I suppose!:beerchug:


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## NonNobis (May 25, 2010)

Very resourceful idea using a washer! Easily available and if it works then why not?!? I would only worry about it getting too hot and burning the briar.


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## commonsenseman (Apr 18, 2008)

First of all, classic first post!

Second, I think most of us can agree that at the very least, the erosion of our freedoms is becoming quite troublesome. You're right on there Dean :thumb:

That's why I'm stocking up on tobacco like mad, the future is one huge unknown.


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## Z.Kramer (Jul 2, 2009)

You know, a few people said the dottle is not worth enough to worry about, but think about it like John D Rockefeller. If this method saves 15 bucks a year, and a person applies a similar concept of savings to 9 other areas of their life, that is 150 bucks a year. If one applies this to _everything_ on which they spend money in one's everyday life, who knows how much could be saved.


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## Mad Hatter (Apr 8, 2007)

Z.Kramer said:


> You know, a few people said the dottle is not worth enough to worry about, but think about it like John D Rockefeller. If this method saves 15 bucks a year, and a person applies a similar concept of savings to 9 other areas of their life, that is 150 bucks a year. If one applies this to _everything_ on which they spend money in one's everyday life, who knows how much could be saved.


John D Schmockefeller. Easy enough for the rich to talk shit. If I saved $150 a year for the next 50 years it would total $7500. Hardly worth the effort. But if I was a huge corporation playing the percentage game at, say, a billion dollars annually..........................


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## beefytee (Apr 16, 2009)

Mad Hatter said:


> John D Schmockefeller. Easy enough for the rich to talk shit. If I saved $150 a year for the next 50 years it would total $7500. Hardly worth the effort. But if I was a huge corporation playing the percentage game at, say, a billion dollars annually..........................


Mr. Hatter...let me introduce you to the joys of compounding

If you were to save $150/year at 5% (which is about 50% LESS than compound annual return for the S&P over the last 50 years) you would have about $31,500.

That seems worth the effort to me.

:focus:


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## Mad Hatter (Apr 8, 2007)

beefytee said:


> Mr. Hatter...let me introduce you to the joys of compounding
> 
> If you were to save $150/year at 5% (which is about 50% LESS than compound annual return for the S&P over the last 50 years) you would have about $31,500.
> 
> ...


Thank you very much for enlightening me. So if I "were to save $150/year at 5% (which is about 50% LESS than compound annual return for the S&P over the last 50 years) you would have about $31,500" then I could buy a candybar in the year 2060 and still have enough money left over to put into an IRA so my great-great-grandson can buy a piece of Bazooka in the year 2099?


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## beefytee (Apr 16, 2009)

Mad Hatter said:


> Thank you very much for enlightening me. So if I "were to save $150/year at 5% (which is about 50% LESS than compound annual return for the S&P over the last 50 years) you would have about $31,500" then I could buy a candybar in the year 2060 and still have enough money left over to put into an IRA so my great-great-grandson can buy a piece of Bazooka in the year 2099?


well, the S&P outpaces inflation at more than 2:1 as well...so just find a nice S&P fund with low fees, put $150 a year into it regardless of up or down market, and in 50 years, you'll have a LOT more than a candybar and a piece of bazooka. Not the kind of money you can live off of...but maybe pay for a semester of your grandkids school..

That inflation is disgusting ...sorry, then right back to topic.

I went to the Manhattan School of Music. Freshman year 1995 tuition was about $14K, I was there for 4 years, Senior year 1999 tuition was $22K, now, 10 years later 1 year costs almost 40K.

Incredible.

Sorry, I will interrupt no further...I'll go to the open thread if I need to say anything else.


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## Mad Hatter (Apr 8, 2007)

beefytee said:


> well, the S&P outpaces inflation at more than 2:1 as well...so just find a nice S&P fund with low fees, put $150 a year into it regardless of up or down market, and in 50 years, you'll have a LOT more than a candybar and a piece of bazooka. Not the kind of money you can live off of...but maybe pay for a semester of your grandkids school..
> 
> That inflation is disgusting ...sorry, then right back to topic.
> 
> ...


All I can say is: You have a lot of faith.......... and I say that sardonically, not sarcastically.


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## beefytee (Apr 16, 2009)

Mad Hatter said:


> All I can say is: You have a lot of faith.......... and I say that sardonically, not sarcastically.


In mathematics...absolutely.

You cannot financially plan with world ending catastrophe in mind, You can try to protect against financial calamity, but it is impossible to invest if you're worried about a supervolcano or the end of democracy or capitalism. And it is impossible to have any REAL wealth without investing in something.

Take ANY 50 years in the markets and you are significantly better off investing (even in an S&P fund) than not.

So unless you want to work 'till you're dead, you have to cross your fingers and leap....and you still may work till you're dead.

The hatred of the market culture is simply fashionable now. This renewed sense populism and distrust of the markets will fade away when people's 401K's start looking good again.

We're ok though. We don't need you to like us. You need us too much and we make money based off of needs, not wants.


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## Mad Hatter (Apr 8, 2007)

beefytee said:


> In mathematics...absolutely.
> 
> You cannot financially plan with world ending catastrophe in mind, You can try to protect against financial calamity, but it is impossible to invest if you're worried about a supervolcano or the end of democracy or capitalism. And it is impossible to have any REAL wealth without investing in something.
> 
> ...


Sure, let's ignore the realities of the latter 20th century arty:


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## beefytee (Apr 16, 2009)

Mad Hatter said:


> Sure, let's ignore the realities of the latter 20th century arty:


I don't mean to be cantankerous,but 50 years ending in the last part of the 20th century. Looking at the S&P, assuming you invested $1.00 at the beginning of the 50 year period...here is how many dollars you would have had at the end of the period. This is a 1 time investment of $1.00 50 years before the date listed.

1990 $260
1991 $375
1992 $443
1993 $401
1994 $328
1995 $379
1996 $334
1997 $508
1998 $638
1999 $706
2000 $553

That is $1.00 invested. We're talking about an appreciation over 50 years including the recovery of the depression, the tail end of the New Deal, WWII, Viet Nam, the crash of 1987, the BushI Recession, Carter, and 3 or 4 more significant downturns.

We're talking a minimum cumulative return of 26,000%

Looking at the facts, it's pretty simple. There aint a mattress in the world that can turn $100.00 into $70K


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## deanking (May 23, 2010)

NonNobis said:


> Very resourceful idea using a washer! Easily available and if it works then why not?!? I would only worry about it getting too hot and burning the briar.


*As I said in my latest post .. for about 25 years .. I was a (busy-time) cigarette smoker (along with leisure-time pipe smoking).*

*But as the price of cigarettes .. kept going up and up .. until I just finally said "the hell with that" .. and became a full-time pipe smoker. **I also switched to smaller bowl pipes. *

*I load about the same quantity of tobacco as a cigarette into each re-fill .. and tend to smoke with fairly small puffs.*

*As I said I'm retired now .. and stay at home most of the time .*

*I often have 2 or 3 or more pipes .. (different locations) .. that I fill and light .. and take a few puffs .. and let it go out .. then relight it later .. often 2 or 3 RE-LIGHTS before I dump the burned tobacco .. wipe the washer .. and the bowl .. and restart with a fresh load.

This smoking "style" .. doesn't heat up the pipe (or the washer) very much. And most of my smoking is with **FRESH** tobacco.*

*Happy Puffing ... *ipe:


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## deanking (May 23, 2010)

Mad Hatter said:


> No really dude. We appreciate first posts that spread awareness about taxes and the decline of freedom and then tell us how to save pennies on the dollar.
> 
> *But the washer idea isn't a bad one, less troublesome than a screen that hinders cleaning, gets plugged, etc, etc, and as we all know, a low heal can ruin more than just the tobacco sitting below the draft.*​


*Yep .. you have pretty well ZEROED-IN on WHY the removable washer seemd like a good idea .. before I finally tried it.*

*I like a clean pipe .. THAT IS QUICK EASY TO KEEP CLEAN.*

*I was never very fond of sucking smoke through a "spit-wad".*

*I got a FANCY (imported) pipe for Christmas a few years ago. It is **really *VERY PRETTY* (to look at) but that's all it's good for. **It has a NON-removable screen .. IMPOSSIBLE to clean .. worthless JUNK.*

*Happy Puffing ... ipe:*


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